Ayala's Seda hotel group to open 3 new hotels in 2017

Ayala Land Hotels and Resort Corporation's (AHRC) wholly-owned Seda hotels is planning on an aggressive expansion program in the country, with the opening of at least three hotels and addition of new rooms to existing hotels, adding more than 2,400 rooms in nine destinations from 2017 up to 2019.

In April, Seda is opening its biggest city hotel, the 438-room Seda Vertis North in Quezon City. Next to open in the third quarter of this year is the 154-room Seda Capitol Central in Bacolod.

In Palawan, Seda will also launch a resort hotel in AHRC's new tourism estate in El Nido town in Palawan called Lio. Seda Lio will have 153 rooms and will be completed in the last quarter of 2017. The two-storey Seda Lio has been designed to have a low environmental impact on its surroundings and may serve as a model for future Seda hotels in other AHRC resort areas.

Melissa Carlos, group director of sales and marketing, said the group's goal is to be the leading Filipino hotel brand catering to global travelers in the Philippines.

“Seda has been successful in highly underserved areas,” she said. AHRC planners had estimated demand for the four-star hotel brand offering five-star service, designing properties with an average of 150 rooms. Its next generation city hotels in Makati, Taguig, Cebu, the Bay Area in Manila will be bigger, with 200 to 350 rooms.

Seda’s best performing property, Seda BGC will see the addition of a new tower 2 with 342 rooms including 48 serviced apartments to cater to long-stay guests, many expected to be project consultants who stay from three to six months. The high demand for Seda BGC despite the competition from international chains is attributed to the hotel's vibrant location and easy access to restaurants, shops, and entertainment outlets.

The new stand-alone Seda BGC tower to be completed in 2018 will interconnect with the existing tower and will add an all-day dining outlet to seat 300 and function rooms for up to 450 people.

Seda is expecting to have a total of 3,281 Rooms by 2019. Since its founding in 2012, Seda has built up its room inventory to 817 rooms spread over five properties which includes Seda BGC, Seda Centrio in Cagayan de Oro City, Seda Abreeza in Davao City, Seda Nuvali in Laguna, Seda Atriain Iloilo City.